Cultural impact

Mars, the Bringer of War

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Mars, performed by the U.S. Air orce Band
!enus, the Bringer of "eace
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!enus, performed by the U.S. Air orce Band
Mercury, the Winged Messenger
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Mercury, performed by the U.S. Air orce Band
#upiter, the Bringer of #ollity
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#upiter, performed by the U.S. Air orce Band
Uranus, the Magician
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Uranus, performed by the U.S. Air orce Band
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Western politics and society
%n the West, political leaders ha&e sometimes consulted astrologers. 'ouis de Wohl (or)ed as an
astrologer for the British intelligence agency M%*, after it (as claimed that Adolf +itler used
astrology to time his actions. ,he War -ffice (as .interested to )no( (hat +itler/s o(n
astrologers (ould be telling him from (ee) to (ee)..01234 %n fact, de Wohl/s predictions (ere so
inaccurate that he (as soon labelled a .complete charlatan. and it (as later sho(n that +itler
considered astrology to be .complete nonsense..01504 After #ohn +inc)ley/s attempted
assassination of U.S. "resident 6onald 6eagan, first lady 7ancy 6eagan commissioned
astrologer #oan 8uigley to act as the secret White +ouse astrologer. +o(e&er, 8uigley/s role
ended in 1399 (hen it became public through the memoirs of former chief of staff, :onald 6egan.
01514
,here (as a boom in interest in astrology in the late 13;0s. ,he sociologist Marcello ,ru<<i
described three le&els of in&ol&ement of .Astrology=belie&ers. to account for its re&i&ed popularity
in the face of scientific discrediting. +e found that most astrology=belie&ers did not claim it (as a
scientific e>planation (ith predicti&e po(er. %nstead, those superficially in&ol&ed, )no(ing .ne>t to
nothing. about astrology/s /mechanics/, read ne(spaper astrology columns, and could benefit
from .tension=management of an>ieties. and .a cogniti&e belief=system that transcends science..
01524 ,hose at the second le&el usually had their horoscopes cast and sought ad&ice and
predictions. ,hey (ere much younger than those at the first le&el, and could benefit from
)no(ledge of the language of astrology and the resulting ability to belong to a coherent and
e>clusi&e group. ,hose at the third le&el (ere highly in&ol&ed and usually cast horoscopes for
themsel&es. Astrology pro&ided this small minority of astrology=belie&ers (ith a .meaningful &ie(
of their uni&erse and 0ga&e4 them an understanding of their place in it..0b4 ,his third group too)
astrology seriously, possibly as a .sacred canopy., (hereas the other t(o groups too) it playfully
and irre&erently.01524
%n 13*5, sociologist ,heodor W. Adorno conducted a study of the astrology column of a 'os
Angeles ne(spaper as part of a pro?ect e>amining mass culture in capitalist society.01554:52;
Adorno belie&ed that popular astrology, as a de&ice, in&ariably led to statements (hich
encouraged conformity, and that astrologers (ho (ent against conformity (ith statement
discouraging performance at (or) etc. (ould ris) losing their ?obs.01554:52@ Adorno concluded
that astrology (as a large=scale manifestation of systematic irrationalism, (here indi&iduals (ere
subtly being led to belie&e that the author of the column (as addressing them directly through the
use of flattery and &ague generalisations.015A4 Adorno dre( a parallel (ith the phrase opium of
the people, by Barl Mar>, by commenting .occultism is the metaphysic of the dopes..01554:523
A 200* Callup poll and a 2003 sur&ey by the "e( 6esearch Center reported that 2*D of U.S.
adults belie&e in astrology.015*4015;4 According to data released in the 7ational Science
oundation/s 201A Science and Engineering %ndicators study, .e(er Americans re?ected
astrology in 2012 than in recent years..015@4 ,he 7S study noted that in 2012, .slightly more
than half of Americans said that astrology (as /not at all scientific,/ (hereas nearly t(o=thirds
ga&e this response in 2010. ,he comparable percentage has not been this lo( since 1395..015@4